California Personal Injury Lawyers Blog

Los Angeles Bus Crash Injures 8 People, Including Inmates and Military Personnel

May 20, 2011 | by Robert Walch

A four bus crash in Los Angeles has resulted in eight injuries to both prison inmates and military personnel. According to the Los Angeles Times, the bus accident caused the shutting of the 5 freeway northbound in Commerce.

Three of the buses were carrying military personnel and the fourth bus was carrying Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department inmates. Six military personnel were injured as well as two inmates. One Los Angeles bus accident victim suffered serious injuries and was transported by ambulance to the hospital.

The four buses were traveling in a line, following each other in the fast lane of the 5 freeway, south of Washington Boulevard when the Los Angeles bus crash occurred. Apparently a car slowed in front of the first bus, which was carrying the inmates. The bus driver slammed his brakes, which lead to the multi bus collision in Commerce.

In bus collisions, often the passengers are not wearing seat belts, which can lead to severe injuries in serious accidents. Because buses have a much longer braking time than a smaller car, bus drivers should always keep a larger space cushion between the bus and the cars or buses around them. In a scenario like this, with the buses traveling in the fast lane, probably at high speeds, an extra cushion could have prevented this bus accident.

San Bernardino Boy Dies in Victorville Off Road Vehicle Accident

May 17, 2011 | by Robert Walch

Chase Scarbough, a 10 year old boy, died today after sustaining injuries in an off road vehicle accident in Victorville, California, on Monday. The accident occurred when the boy lost control of the vehicle after riding over a series of bumps. The boy, who was wearing a helmet and other safety gear, did not appear to suffer major injury as a result of the Victorville accident.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the boy, from San Bernardino, vomited (a sign of possible concussion) today and was taken by ambulance to Saint Mary’s Medical Center. Tragically, according to the California Highway Patrol, Scarbough was pronounced dead due to internal injuries from the Victorville auto accident.

In this Victorville wrongful death accident, the family of the boy should hire a California personal injury attorney to examine the circumstances of the accident and see if there is any legal liability for the wrongful death. Various legal factors include whether children as young as 10 should be allowed to drive such vehicles and whether the off road course was safe enough for riders of such a young age. It will also have to be investigated whether the instructions before riding were adequate.

Depending on the severity of the collision, staff at the Johnson Valley Off Road Recreation area should probably have insisted that the boy see a doctor. The fact that a young boy was only complaining of minor pain does not mean that the injuries are not serious.

Very frequently, with many of our California personal injury auto accident cases, our clients do not quite realize how injured they are at the scene of the collision, and are often in shock. Police or paramedics will ask them if they need emergency transportation to a hospital and many of them will refuse, often happy to be just be alive, only to find themselves in serious pain and needing emergency medical care later that day or even a few days after the accident. For this reason, if you are involved in a serious auto accident, it is often a mistake to refuse emergency medical care and it is better to be safe and get checked out in an emergency room right after the accident.

Personal Injury and Legal Ramifications from a Soccer Game: An Analysis of 4 Superclasicos (Part Two)

May 8, 2011 | by Robert Walch

Previously, a Los Angeles personal injury attorney gave some background into the superclasico soccer games between Real Madrid and Barcelona. In part two, we will give a more in depth legal analysis of the series of games. In the second game, the final of the Copa Del Rey, Real Madrid came into the game with the same intent of destroying Barcelona’s play with dangerous fouls and dirty play. At one point, Alvaro Arbeloa, a defender for Real Madrid, elbowed and then intentionally stepped on the leg of Barcelona striker David Villa. The referee did not see the assault, so Arbeloa got away with it. While normal fouling is part of the game, intentionally stepping on a down player’s legs, with cleats, is not and should not be considered part of the game. This is more comparable to criminal assault, as it is an intentional act with the sole intention of causing bodily harm.

In order for sports competition to be exciting, it is usually best to keep the legal world out of what happens on the field of play. However, certain instances, that should not be part of the game, deserve to be punished legally. For instance, in hockey, when a player intentionally swings his stick at another player’s head from behind, the injured player should not be assuming the risk of such an assault. In football, it can be expected that there are times when a player’s face mask will get pulled, but eye gouging a down player is not “part of the game.” Here, a stomp on a down player’s leg is not part of the game and could cause serious injury. Should this be any different than if this happened outside the stadium, in a public area, where the attacker would be subject to criminal or civil liability for the personal injury he has caused?

In the third game between the teams, this time in the UEFA Champions League, a Real Madrid player, Marcelo, had a similar intentional stomp on the leg of a Barcelona player, Pedro Rodriguez. While David Villa was able to recover and keep playing after he was stomped on, Pedro suffered a knee injury and had to leave the game. The culprit, Marcelo, was not punished as again the referee did not see the attack.

There are numerous reasons that such assaults exist, including the fact that players know that if committed away from the referee’s eyes, they will usually avoid any form of punishment. If suspensions, fines, or criminal or civil charges could be brought after the game, such attacks certainly would occur less frequently, if at all.

Personal Injury and Legal Ramifications from a Soccer Game: An Analysis of 4 Superclasicos (Part One)

May 4, 2011 | by Robert Walch

Normally, the worlds of European soccer and California personal injury do not intertwine. However, April and May of 2011 witnessed an historic set of events in world soccer; four matches between arch rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, played over only 18 days. Most seasons only see two matches between the two giant Spanish soccer clubs, called the “Superclasico.” In this rare instance, the matches occurred in three different competitions, the Spanish league, the European Champions League and the Spanish Copa Del Rey (King’s Cup).

When the two teams met earlier in the season, at Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium, both teams came to play and Barcelona emerged as 5-0 victors. In an attempt to prevent similar embarrassing losses in the four crucial games in April and May of 2011, Jose Mourinho, the coach of Real Madrid, employed certain questionable tactics that will be analyzed here from the point of view of a Los Angeles personal injury attorney.

In the first three games, Mourinho put out an ultra-defensive lineup which, while not illegal, was designed to frustrate his opponents and ruin the spectacle that a soccer match is supposed to provide. However, besides playing defensively, many of Real Madrid’s players seemed to come out with intent to cause personal injury to the Barcelona players.

Mourinho seemed to employ a clear strategy of starting the games with his players kicking and fouling Barcelona players, because in the opening minutes of a game, the referee is less likely to punish such offenses. Fouling, in itself, is part of a soccer game, and is comparable to a foul in a basketball game. However, the difference in soccer is that with the strength of a professional soccer player’s legs, combined with the cleats they wear on their feet, many fouls can cause serious injury (including ligament damage, fractured bones, etc.) to an opponent. For this reason, referees can grant yellow cards for certain fouls (2 yellow cards and the player receives a red card and is ejected and misses the next game) or direct red cards for more serious fouls.

Woman Killed in Parking Structure Car Accident in Los Angeles

April 27, 2011 | by Robert Walch

A woman was killed in a Los Angeles car accident on Tuesday, when her vehicle apparently pushed past the concrete barrier of a parking structure and fell approximately four stories to the ground. The car accident in Los Angeles happened on Nebraska Avenue, in the Sawtelle area of Los Angeles.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the car pushed past a concrete barrier before plunging from the parking structure and landing upside down. The driver of the vehicle, a woman, was killed. No other injuries were reported.

The family of the woman killed should hire a Los Angeles personal injury attorney to investigate whether there was any negligence involved in the potentially wrongful death of the woman. The building site should be examined to see if it was built up to code for parking structures. It will also be necessary to try to figure out why the vehicle collided with the exterior of the structure in the first place.

The Los Angeles injury attorney can research to what extent the walls of a parking structure are supposed to be able to stop a moving vehicle. Accident reconstruction experts can determine how fast the vehicle was moving and why it was able to push through the wall. If the structure was designed negligently, the owners of the structure and/or the building constructors might be held responsible for the Los Angeles wrongful death of the woman.

Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day Spoiled By Assault & Battery Attack

April 5, 2011 | by Robert Walch

The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have one of the most storied rivalries in all of sports, dating back before both teams moved west to when they were in New York. Last year the Giants won the World Series, making opening day this year at Dodger Stadium even more special.

According to the Los Angeles Times, after the Dodgers 2-1 opening day victory, most tragically, two alleged Dodgers fans attacked three Giant fans in the parking lot, resulting in a serious brain injury to one of the Giants fans.

Brian Stow, age 42, a paramedic from Santa Cruz and a father of two children, wearing Giant apparel, was walking through the parking lot with two friends when he was violently attacked, punched, knocked to the ground and kicked. As a result, Stow suffered a catastrophic injury to his brain and is in a medically induced coma at Los Angeles County – USC Medical Center, and remains in critical condition. The attackers reportedly fled in a car driven by a woman.

Giants Pitcher Barry Zito Injured in West Hollywood Car Accident

March 31, 2011 | by Robert Walch

A car accident in West Hollywood today, involving San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito, has caused Zito to suffer injuries, which have been described as “minor.” According to the Los Angeles Times, Zito was taken to Cedars Sinai Hospital after the Los Angeles car accident, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has said the hospitalization was precautionary.

It is unknown at this time which vehicle caused the two car collision in West Hollywood. Also, the injuries to the occupants of the other vehicle are currently unknown.

The San Francisco Giants are currently in Los Angeles to play the Dodgers for the start of the Major League Baseball Season. Zito is scheduled to start for the Giants on Sunday, unless his car accident injuries prevent him from doing so.

If the car accident was caused by the other driver and if the West Hollywood car accident results in Zito missing his start, or requiring significant time on the bench, Zito may have a very significant loss of earnings claim against the driver of the other vehicle. However, because it has been described as minor, it is unlikely that Zito will miss much, if any, time from baseball as a result of the car accident.

If Zito caused the car accident in Los Angeles, the occupants of the other vehicle will be entitled to recoup their personal injury and property damages against Zito’s auto insurance coverage.

2 Injured When Ambulance Hit by Hit and Run Driver in Los Angeles Car Accident

March 30, 2011 | by Robert Walch

A car accident in Los Angeles, involving an ambulance and a hit and run driver, resulted in two paramedics needing hospital care. The ambulance was transporting a patient in the Watts area of Los Angeles when it was hit by the car.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the patient who was being transported in the ambulance did not appear to suffer effects from the car accident and was transported to hospital by another ambulance.

One of the ambulance drivers was rendered unconscious in the Los Angeles car accident and the other injured his shoulder. The paramedics were taken to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where they received treatment before being released.

The driver of the other vehicle involved in the Los Angeles vehicle collision apparently left the scene by foot. In these circumstances, the paramedics should be able to make a Los Angeles workers’ compensation claim. The paramedics and passenger in the ambulance may have a Los Angeles personal injury accident claim against the driver and owner of the other vehicle involved. It is unknown at this time if this was a stolen vehicle. A department of motor vehicles search should turn up the owner of the other vehicle and investigation may lead to the whereabouts of the driver and whether there is any liability insurance.

It is unknown at this time if the ambulance was traveling with its lights and siren on, or why the Los Angeles accident occurred.

The ambulance company may also have an uninsured motorist policy to protect injured persons involved in a scenario like this, if the driver is not identified and no insurance or insufficient insurance turns up for the owner of the other vehicle.

Los Angeles Car Accident on 101 Freeway, Ambulance Reporting

March 26, 2011 | by Robert Walch

According to the Los Angeles Times Traffic section, the number 1 and number 2 lanes of the 101 freeway Northbound, at West Sunset Boulevard, are closed due to a two car collision.

The Los Angeles car accident, involving a Toyota with major front end damage, has apparently resulted in injuries and apparently an ambulance will be responding to the scene. The nature of the injuries is unknown at this time.

Commuters are advised to stay clear of this area due to the traffic backlog from this car accident in Los Angeles. The traffic between Benton Way and Highland, northbound, is moving very slow, under 20 miles per hour, and that area should be avoided until the accident scene is cleared.

Lawsuit Filed After Big Rig Truck Crash Wrongful Death

March 23, 2011 | by Robert Walch

Marcos Costa, a truck driver who is facing murder charges for a California truck accident in April of 2009, has filed suit against Los Angeles County, the California Department of Transportation and the City of La Cañada, alleging that improper maintenance of the Angeles Crest Highway caused the fatal truck accident.

An attorney for Caltrans has called Mr. Costa’s claim “frivolous” and says that the truck accident leading to the wrongful death of two people was caused by Costa, who was driving his truck with a defective braking system and because Costa allegedly did not follow the rules for trucks on California highways.

In his lawsuit, Mr. Costa, a native of Brazil, is asking for “$500,000 for property damage, loss of liberty due to criminal proceedings and ‘oppression, mental duress, stress and mental trauma’.”

The La Cañada Flintridge truck accident killed two people after the big rig truck went out of control. Mr. Costa says there should have been an emergency truck lane for out of control trucks. Costa also claims that the Angeles Crest Highway is a high accident zone and he cited seven prior truck crashes at the intersection. He claims that these prior accidents should have put the government entities on notice of the danger.